Mount Alvernia has a young team with an old coaching staff.

That's the way assistant coach Don Favero characterizes the surprising Lions (12-4, 5-1) who are in second place in Section 4-A.

"Our staff is ancient," quipped Favero, the dean of students at the school who handles the team's defensive strategies. "We've all been in coaching for more than 30 years.

"But we all get along and enjoy each other's company."

"There's a lot of coaching wisdom there."

De Porucznik, the school's athletic director, has been the girls' head coach since the 1960s. Bill Barker and Larry McCabe are also on the coaching staff. In recent years, Porucznik has had the assistant coaches handle the duties of speaking to the media. Favero is happy to talk about the Mount Alvernia team and the school in general.

"Coach De is a coaching icon," he said. "And at Mount Alvernia, we have a way of maintaining our winning tradition every year ... The school is so important to us.

"We feel we're playing for something bigger than all of us and that's the Sisters of Saint Francis.

"That motivates us. We have special rituals and prayers. It's an honor to represent the sisters."

Mount Alvernia graduated five players from last year's team that was co-champion of the section with rival Vincentian. North Catholic, one of the top teams in Class AAA last year, and Avonworth, a long-time powerhouse in Class AA, both dropped in classification and also compete in Section 4-A.

Mount Alvernia lost to North Catholic (13-3, 7-0) in the teams' first meeting, but the Lions surprised Avonworth four days before Christmas, 55-38. That victory gave the Lions sole possession of second place midway through the section schedule.

Mount Alvernia (13-4, 6-1) plays at Avonworth (15-2, 6-2) tonight. Mount Alvernia's only section loss occurred at No. 1 North Catholic, 53-38, on Jan. 4.

The Lions use a seven-player rotation that has only one senior. Tracie Ferrari, a 5-foot-8 forward, is the only 12th-grader on the roster.

She shares playing time in the post area with other inside players: 5-10 junior Renee Brown, 6-0 sophomore Katarina Owuma and 5-9 sophomore Tahlar McIntosh.

The guard play is led by a freshman at the point, 5-7 Gabby Halko, along with 5-7 junior off guards Karmyn Gouch and Lisa Kaczynski, also a pitcher on the Lions softball team in the spring.

"We basically don't have a starting lineup," Favero said. "It's all determined by practice. Coach De decides. It's her call completely.

"It's part of the Mount Alvernia mystique. If you work hard in practice, you'll get your opportunity to play."

Mount Alvernia features a balanced offense that does not have a particular "go-to" player.

"That's one of the strengths of our team," Favero said. "We normally have three or four players in double figures every game, but we don't have one particular person who scores the most points all the time. We spread it around."

The Lions have also excelled outside of Section 4-A with victories against quite a few larger schools. Mount Alvernia defeated Class AA Beaver (14-4) last Friday, 64-59.

The Lions also own victories against Class AAAA Fox Chapel and Pine-Richland and Section 4-AA leader Shady Side Academy.

"We schedule bigger schools all the time, so we almost never play with fear," Favero said. "We're used to such a hard schedule to help us get ready for our section games. Our kids would play anybody.

"We laugh and say that we could put the Pitt and Duquesne women on our schedule, and our kids wouldn't blink.

"To be intimidated by an opponent, that's not the way we think."

Free-throw shooting has been an advantage for the Lions this season. They have converted 73 percent of their shots from the line, according to Favero.

Gouch was 6 for 6 at the line against Beaver in the final four minutes of a game in which the lead changed hands several times in the second half.

"Everybody on our team can shoot well at the line, so when we're protecting a lead late, we spread out and make other teams play us man-to-man, so they can send us to the line where we can win it there," Favero said.

"Coach De deserves the credit for this.

"We'll shoot from the line intermittently at practice. We'll shoot at the start of practice when we aren't tired and then in the middle and also at the end of practice when we are tired."